Behind the scenes: The Sims studio

Want to know where Sims come from? Wonder no more and check out the studio where The Sims 3 was made

Last week, GamesRadar was invited to Electronic Arts’ Redwood City campus for an early peak at The Sims 3: Ambitions expansion pack. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to share our impressions of the upcoming expansion for another week. But we did manage to bring a camera so we could give you a behind the scenes look at the EA campus and the studio where The Sims 3 was developed. Ever wonder where your Sims came from? Wonder no more and join us for a quick tour.

Above: Located in Redwood City, California, Electronic Arts’ campus is gigantic. It has itsown soccer field and a hedge maze. See that yellow-ish circle in the bottom-left corner? That's the maze

Above: The hedge maze. You won’t be getting lost with these short walls, but it's still quite lovely

Above: A closer look at the campus’ soccer field reveals a well manicured logo for The Sims 3

Above: The entrance to the visitor's lobby looks more like the outside of a night club

Above: Posters for the latest EAtitles cover the walls in the hallway leading up to the reception area. In the background is a huge flat screen TV playing commercials for everything from Dragon Age: Origins to Charm Girls Club. It's hard to see how big the television is from this perspective, but trust us. It's enormous and towers over everything

Above: Stations with playable demos for EA games surround the main reception area. More comfy stations with cushy seats are located just behind the red couches

Above: This is the security desk. You won’t get past this area unless you’ve got a visitor’s badge and an escort

Above: Nothing warms up a room like Sims-themed embroidery. Thishand craftedwork of artis surrounded by pictures of the development team and funny screenshots of the game, which we were asked not to show

Above: Portraits of Sims from all walks of life

Above: The cubicles and corridors in The Sims studio are standard corporate issue. But pin-ups and posters like this remind you that this isn’t an everyday office

Above: A poster celebrating ten years of The Sims. We apologize that this photo was not framed as well as the actual poster

Above: We noticed that the studio was nice and dark, giving the area a warm cozy feeling. We hate bright lights and the sun, too

Above: An impressive mural of character art lines the walls

Above: Now this is what we call a workstation! Meet Grant Rodiek, associate producer for The Sims team and his amazing collection of neat stuff. Expect more news about The Sims 3: Ambitions expansion soon on GamesRadar

Above: The latest trailer for The Sims 3: Ambitions. Come back for hands-on impressions of the upcoming expansion at GamesRadar next week

Above: See that water fountain? They don’t make ‘em like that anymore. Good, strong water pressure. Nice and cool, but not too cold. We give it a nine-out-of-ten!